Yeah, I don't really know if anything would come of it. But, if anyone is interested in commission stuff, then please note or message me here (prefferably note). I wouldn't mind trying to do stuff for people for around 3-5 bucks a pop, sketchy stuff/line art for about 2 bucks. I'm in great need of inspiration and ideas right now. I'm at an artistic block.

I deleted my old journal when all I wanted was to update XP


Anyway, I'm not dead. Just really busy. Ever look back on the kinda stuff you did years back and go ECK! I really need to do new art, but for some reason, I can't sit still long enough. My eyes hurt every time I stare into the monitor and it really bothers me because I'd REALLY like to get stuff done. I see all these good artists on DA who're always updating. How I wish I wouldn't get eye strain for staring into a monitor for an hour. ><;

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I sent this to got-mongoose-love, but some people told me they never were alerted. Well, I'm just going to leave it here then, to say that I'm alive and that I never really came to the conclusion Sonic ever showed his heart set on anyone in the comics. Perhaps...the girls in his life have been choosing his path for him? Maybe I'll write some more on it. I prefer writing more than drawing so any ideas for writing/editorial prompts are appreciated.

A few thoughts.


I've already made a more personal dev account for any personal ideas, art or feelings I want to share with deviantart when I am ready (which I'm not because my net service has problems where I live regularly). This account however will be a place to share my liking for Mina, and any other characters that are near and dear to me. So, if you notice me talking about cartoons a lot on this account, that's because I've set up another one that will be more absent of all the cartoon talk. There is more to life than cartoons you know, but they still are a big part of my entertainment and therefore have the right not to be ignored entirely. I like making big things to talk about since I don't exactly update very often.

My first topic will concern, Mina haters. More specifically, those who compare her to...that's right... Sally. First of all, it hasn't been as much of a problem as it was many years ago (much more under control), but why are people comparing SatAM Sally... to Archie's Mina? First, let me say that the two exist on two differing universes. Sally in SatAM and Sally in Archie are different to, so using that as substance to hate Mina is IMO not very wise and just seems like pointless bashing sugarcoated to appear as though someone has a well rounded arguement. Its not. SatAM Sally doesn't exactly exist in Archie because SatAM is a seprate continuity to Archie no matter how many similarities are present within it.

To go further, the SatAM fans worship Sally, and then call Mina a Mary-sue. Now, I like old school, love SatAM, and Sally wasn't so bad in it. But lets back up. Sally is the brains of the operation, Sonic's partner on missions, his ONLY object of affection, is practically a main character (so much so that some fans call Sonic a guest star in his own show), has an angst ridden past and present of leading a bunch of rebels and losing her father and the one who keeps everybody focused. Now, make Sally male, a kid, Caucasian with red hair and you've got Chris Thorndyke.

Don't get mad, lets evaluate Chris:

+ Always at Sonic's side, (Like Sally)


+ apparently seems to be the peak of Sonic's interest, (Like Princess Sally)


+can negotiate which shows his ability to keep the head on people's shoulder's (Like Sally)


+ and has a sad past because his parents weren't around as he grew up leaving Sonic and his friends to be that close knit family with Tanaka, Chuck, and Ella, that he can't have with his own parents regularly. (Like Sally)

+Is a HUGE center of focus in the storyline, so much so that people can argue which is the true star of the series (Like Sally)

If I wrote a story featuring either Chris or Sally, I'd most likely be criticized by many people for making a Mary-sue/Gary-stu. Both of them share a LOT of sue like traits. Compare that to Mina's super speed, and you've got so much more on their end to boot. Hypocritical to whine about Mina or Chris and then make Sally shrines to worship her as some sort of demigod. That's not to say anyone cannot like Sues. Mina has a few sue traits after all. I'm just saying, its so sad to point the finger at other characters such as Mina Mongoose, and whine about their one sue trait, when the character you compare her to (SatAM Sally) has somewhere between 3 - 5 Mary-sue/Gary-stu characteristics.

So that's my take on such hypocricy and faulty comparisons. But I suppose that's not everything. Ash is becoming a reason too. Mina likes Sonic, but what about Ash? How insensitive is she to persue Sonic while Ash is around? Hello, ladies and gentlement please read issue 150 and 144, Mina deffinately thinks about Ash's feelings. She cares about Sonic, but she understands Ash is a guy with feelings. She does not hang out with Sonic, without eventually understanding that. Others say she is insensitive because she isn't taking the time to get to know her boyfriend. His glares of jealousy towards Sonic and other gestures of jealousy go unoticed to Mina. She's insensitive and stupid right? Actually, Ash's regular face is a scowl. His character design by WB was made with him scowling and he does that on a regular basis. Ash is a scowler. Isabella, Amy, Mina, not even Sonic during 145 payed it ANY mind because that's his regular look. So if Ash is glaring at Sonic with a scowl because he's jealous, nobody is going to know its because he's jealous because he scowls regularly.


Then comes this whole "Eeew Mina's like Brittany Spears." Just because WB says Mina seems to remind him of Britney Spears. Can people stop calling her Britney Spears simply because a popular Sonic artist says it? Its one thing to have substance to calling Mina the equivalent to Mrs. Spears. But, its another to have NO substance, use it as some reason to hate Mina and be done with it. Why is Mina like Spears? Lets also not forget that Art Mawhinney doesn't see her as a sex icon. His art design for her was a girl in a cute dress, much more innocencent. Axer made a design reflecting a tomboyishly cute punk rock singer, Best did a casual look. All the artists have different attitudes that they feel reflect Mina the best. You however have to pick one and decide which is right. More importantly don't pick one simply because you wanna use it as a battle cry. Find one that evidence can prove. Meaning one that you can back up folks

Okay, back to Spears. For one thing, I hate it when people look on TV see an image and think that this automatically means they see the true person on TV. You don't know Britney Spears, you know her public persona. So lets get that cleared up right away. So to make this more clarified: What makes Mina the equivalent of Spear's public persona?

Some people will say her clothes. I say that if Archie remembers continuity whatsoever, this would be a great big load of laughter. Naked Sally, Pantless Julie-su and nude Barbie Koala are all...naked. Do men seem sexually attracted to this nudity in the comic? Absolutely not. Therefore, furries don't look at the female body and equate it to sex appeal when naked. Mina can wear the skimpiest of clothing and not be marketting sex appeal because nudity doesn't entice males sexually in the Mobian community. Otherwise Sally and any other half naked furry would be sexually active every issue. So people say it puts stress on sexual body parts. No, the guys don't look at the body as sexual. Showing skin, or even showing more cleavage isn't going to, or shouldn't be enticing male Mobians because they's already seen bare breasts from the time they've grown up, and they've seen naked woman virtually everyday. There's NO sex appeal to be marketted when nudity or stress to parts fails to attract. No matter how skimpy WB may draw Mina, the themes people will draw from her look within her culture, and how it would be perceived in Briteny's differs.

+ Mina's lyrics also aren't sexy as many of Britney's top sellers. Mina may sing about romance, and personal dissonance. She doesn't sing about sex.

+WB said IIRC that it was because of her cheerful attitude. Dudes, cheerful non dark attitudes can make a girl have in common something with millions of celebrities, not Spears in particular. WB felt it he could compare that cheer and never giving up to Mina's persona. That doesn't mean that she is equal like Spears just because they share that one thing in common. As that's a trait that billions and billions of people share.

So if people would like to give some better reasons for why they feel Mina is Briteny please share.


Finally, the Mina vs. Amy thing. Amy fans constantly complain because they feel Mina could've been replaced by Amy Rose. Lets look at the dynamics of each relationship:

+ Amy chases Sonic

+ Amy is somewhat posessive over Sonic

+ Amy is maturing from what used to be her 10 year old self. Amy can therefore be noted for her insensitivity to the feelings of others (which is a signal that puberty is starting but isn't quite there for her yet in the mind)

+Amy's world revolves around Sonic

Now lets look at Mina

+Mina does not chase Sonic. Here's the catch about chasing. One persues the other runs away. Mina may have in her past relationship with Sonic made moves to persue him, but he didn't run. In 111, he showed that he had a mutual interst in her when he thought of her and Sally as girlfriend material. In the 90s he's flirted with her, and in 121 he flirted with her again. Sonic never ran from Mina's advances. Once Mina felt that her advances had been rejected because he had chose someone else (and I have my own personal idea on WHY Sonic could've done something like that), she didn't chase him. She let him be. Mina doesn't persue when there's another in his eye because unlike Amy, she is sensitive to his feelings because she has matured.

Now now Amy fans, before you tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about as far as her insensitivity is concerned, lets look at both the games and the comics. (keep in mind though, one reason is a slight spoiler of 150. skip the first point if you don't want it spoiled).

+ In 150, Amy notices Ash's jealousy towards Sonic and instead of being sensitive to his feelings, she simply tells him "your just jealous because Sonic's the bomb and you're not". No trying to rid him of insecurities for Mina, just blatant honesty and an inability to consider how hurt it would be to be compared to his competition who makes him very insecure as is, and then tell him he's not as good.

+ Amy has also tried getting closer to Sonic by growing up using the ring of acorns. Not caring about how the ring could've been used for less selfish purposes, or considering Sally and Sonic's relationship.

+ In the games, Sonic tells Amy Rose that he's not interested in marrying her or becoming her boyfriend. Amy continues to chase him still so that he will get into a relationship with her. That again is showing Amy's lack of sensitivity to Sonic's feelings and what he wants.

So whether you compare Amy in the games or comics she's still to some degree insensitive.

+Mina's also not posessive of Sonic. Amy's signature dynamic with Sonic is that she desires more to have Sonic then to be sensitive to his needs and feelings. Sonic feels he doesn't want a relationship in the games, she persues, Sonic doesn't veiw Amy more than a sister, she still persues him, Mina will take a bullet for Sally and die so that Sonic can be happy with her. Mina has shown that when it comes down to the knitty gritty she can actually sacrifice being with Sonic to make him happy when a situation calling for that direct comprimise occurs.

+ Mina shows she has more to life than Sonic when she helps boost troop morale by being a source of the entertainment industry (and she was appointed by the king, meaning leadership alone doesn't get people energized to do things on a daily basis). She made moves to move on with her life by getting a boyfriend.

...Can anyone tell me why Mina is another Amy Rose? I have yet to see a viable reason. They neither look, nor act alike.

I also suppose people can tell me what is actually unoriginal about Mina.

"Her looks" "Her personality"

...blah blah blah, back it up with some evidence or stop whining.

Oh, and people please stop hating her simply because people think Mina handled the triangle better than Sally. Sally ignored Sonic and evaded him. Mina took a bullet for Sally so she and Sonic could be happy together, and after she got out of the hospital she didn't ignore and evade him. See folks, lets compare those situations.

Posession, versus and actual love that is selfless in nature.

Possession is when a person cares more about HAVING another person than making them happy or tending to their needs. Sort of like veiwing someone as a trophy prize. How does Sally prove that she's posessive over Sonic? When she sees Sonic and Mina kiss she has two options:

+Show that she wants Sonic to be happy by allowing him to be with Mina, while remaining a friend to him

+Or being posessive, by demonstrating her only reason for keeping up a steady relationship with Sonic, was so that she knew she could one day have him. Once the idea she can have him is broken, most if not all desire to keep things the way they were have deteriorated. Thus she ignores and evades UNTIL Mina reveals that Sally still has a chance to be with Sonic. Funny how Sally started befriending Sonic again after Mina implied that.

Sally choses the later.


Mina sees Sonic and Sally kiss. Then Nack shoots Sally. Mina has two options:

+ Take the bullet for Sally so that she and Sonic can be happy together, but that would risk her life.

+Let Sally take the bullet to her head and die. Leaving Sonic to all to herself.

Mina took the first option. She could've gotten Sally out of the way for good. She could've had an unhappy Sonic, but hey if having him was more important to her than his happiness that wouldn't have mattered. But it wasn't. Mina felt that if Sonic was more happier with Sally, then her death would've hurt him more than her own. She would've died to make him happy. Whereas Sally can't even be a friend to Sonic that well if she can't be ensured that she can have him in the future. Now, I don't know about you. But I think that Mina handled it better. I wish people would stop whining to Mina fans telling us "Sally's approach was more natural/normal". Sally's approach was more selfish. I don't care whether people see that as normal or not. I would hate to think that people would justify purely selfish, insensitive, childish behavior, and disrcredit the one who made the more selfless, harder, and more mature choice. People choose easier ways out and are selfish normally. That's true. But that doesn't mean that because we are, its right in relationships. The one who is the lesser selfish of the two is the one who will give more to see the relationship work for their partner, and in turn is happy because things are working out for them.

I don't think Sonic's in love with Sally. Sally is posessive of him, he's possessive of her. Not only can he not let his trophy go very well, but Sonic's shown he finds comfort in the past, and thus may have difficulty moving forward in life. Sally is his past. His posessive behavior over Sally reflects his childish romantic affair with a princess that he is having difficulty letting go of. I don't feel Sonic should be with anyone until he can. He deserves someone, but I feel until he matures which he is gradually... he shouldn't get caught up in any relationship. People seek maturity in what I feel is immature. All Sonic did was fight Geoffery, Ant, and possibly even Knuckles for Sally's attention at the drop of a hat, without considering Sally may have been happier with his cooperation and friendship. At least with Ash, Sonic didn't lunge at him. He eventually did crack, but it wasn't immediate which showed an attempt to try to get along with him until Ash persistantly continued to get on his case. It didn't seem as though Mina or Sonic were comfortable with Ash's behavior, so it was good that Sonic finally did confront him about his attempts to make him look bad.

Some fans whine that Mina and Amy admire Sonic, so that they're stupid fangirls. Um...no. It means you see something good about someone. I have yet to meet ANYONE in a relationship who is attracted to another person in which they have nothing that they feel they could admire. Practically every love interest Sonic's had, including Sally has admitted admiration for Sonic in some form. So it doesn't work. That's like saying "Yeah well, I feel a sense of attraction between Sonic and myself, but I don't see anything great about him."

...huh?

Okay, so I suppose you know my sentiments on all that. I also feel that Archie does have a few problems. Their staff's made of freelancers with different interpretations of the characters, and where they want them to go in life.

Lets see what they're already doing to Mina:

"Oh, Ash how can I hurt him so?"

this is an example of Mina's dialouge in 150. The idea of what Mina's thinking is fine with me. But its just how they word it that doesn't seem like Mina. "what of Ash" oh me oh my I think someone has made her sound too proper. Which may give an entirely seperate atmosphere about her character and the situation at hand.

then to paraphrase WB:

My head says go with Sonic, my heart says not to give up what I have for something that will never be mine.

Mina's felt since 123, that she can't make Sonic happy and that's why she could never be his. Not only that, but Ash must be considered too. If WB's intent was to explain that Mina is cautious about breaking the heart of somone who cares for her, in order to be with one she cannot make happy as far as relationships are considered, then I think that's somewhat accurate to her selfless character, but it was worded in a way that once again doesn't mesh well with Mina.

The staff needs to get together to outline her character. That, or the editor needs a good idea of whom the characters are so that he can direct the freelancers, which would be preferable. But being the new editor Mike is new, I doubt that'd actually happen.

Well yeah its another rant about Sally and Amy Rose. But before I get to that just a little reflection question about....


love.


Now, there are those out there who "care" about me in that way, this is not the time to make public any agony or dispute you have over this concept. but here it is:


Lately, I thought to myself, why do many people desire to be with another person? Well most of them say that with their partner they're more complete, aren't lonely and so fourth. But to rely on your partner for those things only ends people up in heartbreak. Once you break up, or if you grow old together one of you dies the fear of lonliness a lack of being loved, etc that you tried running away from by establishing yourself with a partner ultimately comes to the surface. Is the whole point of many relationships pointless? To escape what cannot be escaped in some way shape or form? Speration will be inevitable. Whether by a breakup or death itself.

After the thought about this, I feel, that romantic relationships can happen, but if they're for the right reasons. The hardest part about it is to try brushing off getting in a relationship for the sole desire of being loved.

When you're in a relationship for "love" you are saying you have the ultimate care for someone (hey I can't think of a greater word for care in our language). If you care that much, its about thinking about the other person's needs, not your own. A relationship IMO should (but most of the time isn't) about being together to tend to the other's needs. In the end people find themselves in a relationship to fufill selfish desires of feeling loved. And the wrath of posession will befall a couple eventually.

If you want your partner simply to have them, even if your posession lasts a life time, one of you shall die, and you will feel the pain of losing your trophy. Posession doesn't win. Nor does infaturation. The superficial qualities about people (hair, skin, physical attractiveness) will die away in sure time. I think people should be careful about why they get into a relationship because the reality of it is that looks will fade and you'll be stuck with someone you have no reason to want anymore and alas you're unhappy.


Love wins. If you're in it for the desire to see them happy above all else, comprimise can come (if both are comprimising to the philosophy) even in death, the pain of not being loved isn't there because that wasn't what the relationship was about. The pain of losing your beloved trophy or cute boyfriend/husband isn't there either because it too wasn't apart of the relationship. If they died happy, you can feel complete not violated.

...but I'm just mindlessly rambling a crazy idea aren't I?


okay then, to the Sally/Amy rant!





Okay, so I'm in the middle of a messageboard conversation, and I get warned by a moderator because he says "I don't have the right to say what pairings people think are and are not better", trying to defend Sonic/Amy fans I "lashed" out on.

...idiots.

Okay, first of all, I wasn't directing it to all Sonic/Amy fans just the Sonic/Amy fans who don't know who Mina and Sally are. The topic says which pairing is BETTER! in order to know what's BETTER you need to at least need to know what the heck you're comparing. Does saying "Sally Acorn is prettier than Barbie Koala... but I dunno who Barbie Koala is (let alone what she looks like)!!!123"

NO!

It makes no sense to try comparing something with something else you don't know. So why am I being lashed out on just for saying these people have no right to be going to that topic to say who's better when they don't know every dynamic the topic started introduced to know which is the best?

Simple

and.... its sad. How overrated Amy Rose is. You have so many people who would go through the depths of stupidty just to defend an aneorexic, hobbyless, pink hedgehog who's next to Sally on the "lacking self worth" shelf. Yet she's "grrl p0wer" she's "adoreable" and so forth. I don't mean the comics, or even the STI video games of Amy (and as vain as she was I could appreciate her more), don't get me wrong. But I can't STAND this pink hedgehog I see in the games now.

***First off, before anyone tells me Amy's got a hobby in shopping, she in Sonic adventure does it to kill time, relying on Sonic to give her something fun to do. The fact she implied she's tried to find something fun was redeeming though, I think she was merely saying that in the end Sonic brings fun. I didn't see it as her lacking self worth, just stating a fact. But that was then...

and now...

She just has no worth for herself. and she's no longer the selfless female in Sonic adventure that I once appreciated either. In Sonic adventure she says "I'll make that Sonic respect me" and from then on more and more, we saw her personality take changes. At first we had the sympathetic Amy Rose who did things for Birdie out of the kindness of her heart, with no sign of personal gain for motivation in sight. But after the adventure she realized a desire for Sonic's respect. She then became more and more agressive through every game. Fighting him in Sonic Battle, and becoming borderline threatning to those who told her Sonic may not love her in battle. Her desires to help Emerl were now for a personal gain to win Sonic's respect in taking care of their "little one." In Sonic Adventure 2 she accompanies Tails to save Sonic, and when she finds him, she tries to get him to agree to marriage in exchange for his freedom. Realizing that she cannot break his will, she sets him free anyway. She is obviously molding her character into something she thinks Sonic will respect, being more aggressive through each failing attempt.

But at the same time she's being something she's not. When you look at the Amy in Sonic adventure, and then look at the one in Heroes/Battle, they're not the same anymore. In Heroes where was her attempt to save Froggy and Chacola because of that warm hearted sympathy that was present when she helped out Birdie? Gone, instead, her character HAS to be one-tracked minded to Sonic and her own ambitions to be married to a "shooting star." Where was she hitting Sonic to protect her own desires in Sonic adventure? When Sonic was about to kill Gamma she TALKED it out, when Shadow wasn't helping, she TALKED out the dispute. She was a great character who emphasized the fact that violence doesn't have to be the answer to everything and added a balance to the characters. But now whenever Sonic's around she has to be violent and agressive when things aren't her way, because she's finding no worth in her actual character.

If Sonic may not like her weight (reffering to battle), she needs to change it. The skinniest beanpole already she must continue to lose weight. If Sonic doesn't like her persona (which she felt evident in Sonic Adventure), she has to change that too. Amy's got so caught up into what would make Sonic respect her, she no longer desires her own self respect. Which sickens me to death. I don't like this new, bratty Amy Rose. I also don't see her chasing him as a signal of love. Rather a desire for respect and posession. She doesn't care if Sonic says he doesn't want her, or doesn't want to marry her, she persists anyway. If love is supposed to mean the ultimate care for someone in our language then why do people insist she LOVES Sonic? Does her not abiding by his wishes say anything about her not caring about how he feels, let alone if she has the ultimate care for him in any sense?

I won't lie, I really liked her Sonic Adventure self, when she was behaving how she really does and not trying to create some lie to win Sonic over for respect. What drives Amy to Sonic is through a commitment, she knows she's won the respect of someone who she perceives as cool and fun and her "hero." and I'll just stop before I end up repeating myself about Amy. To those who can still apreciate her character, well... sorry you had to hear this. Consider it the ramblings of a former Sonic Team Amy fan, perhaps you see something in her character I don't. I would agree she is a character to be pitied, but to say I respect her character would be a lie. .___. sorry guys.


...Another thing that ticks me off? People OOOHING and AHHING over Amy Rose just because they think her first appearance was made in an authentic Japanese game. Her appearance was Japanese, but it wasn't in any Sonic Team game. Most people credit Amy's birth being in the year 1993 with the debut of Sonic CD. That's NOT Amy's birthday unless we're going by what it is in games alone. The concept of Amy Rose dates back to 1 year prior to that (1992) and Amy Rose was the girlfriend of Nikki (who by God's power could transform into Sonic in the Japanese manga he was in)

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oh.. and she's not even pink. if you knew what color she was none of you would complain about Sally.

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the games took the concept within the series and went to adapt it. At the Sonic HQ, there is also a game that would've been dedicated to his little sister, who also appears in that same manga. So Amy Rose is not a game character, she's a comic character HAH!



I'm also looking back on eps of SatAM I hadn't accessed in years. And I didn't like Sally as much as I did then. The storyline depicted her as too... perfect, for my taste. That doesn't mean all the characters liked her behavior always, but in the end Sally's actions were always promoted as the right thing. She could be sarcastic, and a worry wart, but in the end when she didn't plan "enough" something would go wrong. Hence the storyline implied looking and tending to details was a good thing, when she was sarcastic it was normally to Antoine, who the story was already trying to get us to dislike in the first place. Would we condemn the characters for speaking ill of Robotnik? No, because he's menacing and "evil" good guys are meant to speak ill of him in the story, and the same goes with Antoine or when Sonic's personality was "ugly". Only Sonic wasn't menacing he was arrogant and egocentric, and Antoine was a cowardly pompus. If Sally was speaking or acting uninterested to them, it was usually because the story blantantly potrayed their personas as "bad." So what could've been some actual flaws for Sal in the cartoon in the end didn't detract from her character, and the story promoted then as "good" things anyway. I felt pressured to like her "ooh see how witty she iz?" "Ooooh look at how big her role is!" "Look how wonderful Sally's character is to our story" whats worse is that we had to add angst to her character.

So that not only is she perfect in the storyline's potrayl (our ideal girl) but we need to feel sorry for her above almost every other character, perhaps even Sonic. Sally losing her father, her kingdom and the stress of leading the Freedom Fighters presented almost if not more angst than Sonic's pain of losing Chuck, or any of the other problems any of the other Freedom Fighters were facing. But I try not to take it all to seriously because of course the story is going to make the ideal girl blatant, when looking at the age audience SatAM was targetted to. Then again, I didn't see myself interested in the characters as much as the storyline itself. So looking at how they had to handle it, I say the show itself was a good job. I just can't see myself becoming an avid Sally supporter because of SatAM, as she seemed a bit bland to me, and that's probably because I'm growing up and my standards are maturing with age. those standards are slowly exceeding the maturity set for the show for its target audience. So I can understand people growing up attatched to Sally, and I can understand people being wowed by how the storyline develops her, but I guess I'm moving on. and that chapter of life is now coming to an end.